Earlier season, especially when waterfowl hunting, use foam earplugs at the very least in the left ear. Calling often will hurt my ears as well as shooting.
If anyone is shooting near me, for sure I will have protection on both ears.
Late season pheasant hunting, I'm usually wearing a heavy hat with ear muffs and maybe a head band also. That seems to dull the shotgun blasts enough.
I have also found there is a distinct difference to me between ammo that produces 1400fps and higher velocities (say high-speed steel) versus 1250fps pheasant loads. The first really "cracks" my ears and feels damaging. The latter doesn't feel nearly as bad.
